Engineering services alliance welcomes government consultation on retentions and late payments
Actuate UK, the engineering services alliance, has welcomed the new government consultation on reforming cash retentions and taking legislative measures against late payments to small businesses, as part of the new Small Business Plan unveiled on 31st July 2025.
Withholding retentions across the supply chain has been an outdated practice which disproportionally impacts the cashflow of small businesses across the construction. Actuate UK and its members will now widely consult and submit a response supporting a solution that is fair, enforceable and sustainable. The consultation will run until 23rd October 2025.
Rob Driscoll, ECA Director of Legal & Business, commented on behalf of Actuate UK’s Business Group: “Finally, government is consulting on how best to reconcile unfair and delayed payment practices. In recognition of the need to ‘go further, faster’, government’s engagement on how to reform retentions marks a seminal once-in-a-generation moment for the industry to come together and shape reform in an area which has stifled growth, innovation and training, crippling supply-chain cashflow and amplifying the repercussions of insolvency for over a century.
“Let’s hope industry can come together, give clients the comfort they need and suppliers the protection they need, in order to make our industry more resilient to deliver the UK’s built environment.”
